ANOTHER TEASER CLIP POSTED

Since my trio will be playing at one of my fave rooms next Saturday (The Brighton Bar in Long Branch, NJ), I figured it was okay to sneak a teaser clip of another new song (demo form for now) that will be unveiled at this show.

Can you tell I’m dying to start recording soon?

The name of this second song from the new album is called “Keep Breathing” and judging by the responses I’ve been receiving, I picked the right song for the gig. One of my former guitar students said it was “straight up rock and roll, a little more accessible to a non-metalhead” and I would be inclined to agree. It is definitely one of the most straight-forward songs I’ve ever written but it wasn’t planned that way. Let me explain the story behind it…

Last March when I was in Philly with my daughter Emma for Bass Bootcamp, we took a trip to Barnes & Noble nearby (where else?) Out of nowhere, this melody hit me and wouldn’t leave my brain. “This can’t be happening” is all I thought because we were about 30 minutes from the hotel and I had nothing to write my idea down. Was I going to forget this one? I was determined not to let this one slide by.

Upon getting back to our room, I grabbed a pen and paper and started scribbling all these notes down at a furious pace. Yes, my daughter thought I was out of my mind (aren’t most parents uncool anyway?) but the paper almost caught fire from me writing so fast with the pen. I’ve written songs quickly, but this one? I broke a land speed record.

Had rehearsal with my guys and said “I know you are still learning these songs for these shows but can I show you something I wrote?” I thought they would be annoyed at me but to my surprise, they were receptive. Showed them the changes and after about three or four passes, the first song for my next album came to life. From there, the faucet stayed on, and I was writing more and more as I always do. I had a slightly different song title for this but changed it to “Keep Breathing” because it holds two meanings for me (cue “Stairway To Heaven” now…)

First of all, when I feel stressed or down about things, I remind myself that I need to keep breathing and stay focused. Any day above ground is a good one, and when anxiety grips me, I do some deep-breathing exercises to slow my world down. It’s not always easy but it helps eventually. The second reason is that I’ve had asthma since I was 25, so yeah…I need to keep breathing, right?

I hope some of you who hear the little clip on my AUDIO page will want to hear the song in full. Well, if you come on down to the Brighton Bar on Saturday May 13th, you will hear it loud and proud. I am sure it will be filmed too, just like “Marblehead” was back in March at Mexicali Live.